Lauren Mancia. "Reading Augustine's Confessions in Normandy in The 11th and 12th Centuries," Tabularia: Sources Écrites de La Normandie Médiévale (18 December 2014)

Tabularia
Sources crites des mondes normands mdivaux

2016
Les bibliothques mdivales de Normandie et des
mondes normands : changes et circulation | 2014
Reading Augustines Confessions in Normandy in

the 11th and 12th Centuries
Lire Les Confessions de saint Augustin en Normandie aux XI e et XIIe sicles
Lauren Mancia
Publisher:
CRAHAM - Centre Michel de Board,
Presses universitaires de Caen
Electronic version
URL: http://tabularia.revues.org/2118
DOI: 10.4000/tabularia.2118
ISSN: 1630-7364
Electronic reference
Lauren Mancia, Reading Augustines Confessions in Normandy in the 11th and 12th Centuries ,
Tabularia [Online], Les bibliothques mdivales de Normandie et des mondes normands : changes et
circulation, Online since 18 December 2014, connection on 01 February 2017. URL : http://
tabularia.revues.org/2118 ; DOI : 10.4000/tabularia.2118
CRAHAM - Centre Michel de Board

Reading Augustines Confessions in Normandy
in the 11thand 12thCenturies
Lire LesConfessions de saint Augustin en Normandie
aux XIeet XIIesicles
Lauren Mancia
Department of History, Brooklyn College, NewYork
laurenmancia@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Abstract:
Scholars such as Pierre Courcelle have observed an intensification in interest in Augustines
Confessions in medieval Europe after the 11thcentury. This intensification was manifested
in Normandy in two ways: first, in the early 11thcentury, Abbot John of Fcamp drew
extensively from Augustines Confessions in his own Confessio Theologica; and second, book
lists and extant manuscripts from the Norman monastic world show a marked increase in
the number of copies of Confessions in Normandy by end of the 12thcentury. This article
offers, for the first time, both an analysis of how John of Fcamp used Augustines work
in his own Confessio and an interpretation of the manuscript evidence for the diffusion of
Confessions in Normandy. This study hopes to demonstrate how an analysis of contempo-
rary intellectual interpretations of texts in Normandy can be used alongside paleographical
examination of surviving copies to uncover both the ways in which and the reasons for
which books circulated among the monastic houses.
Keywords: John of Fcamp, Confessions, St.Augustine of Hippo, monastic manuscript
culture, monastic contemplation, 11th-century, 12th-century, Confessio Theologica,
monasticism, Paris, BnF, mslat.1916
Rsum :
Des chercheurs, tel Pierre Courcelle, ont observ un regain dintrt pour LesConfessions
de saintAugustin dans lEurope mdivale aprs le XIesicle. Ce renouvellement dintrt
est attest en Normandie de deux manires : dabord, au dbut du XIesicle, labb Jean
de Fcamp sest largement inspir des Confessions de saintAugustin dans sa propre
ConfessioTheologica ; ensuite, les listes de bibliothques et les manuscrits subsistants issus
du monde monastique normand attestent une croissance exponentielle du nombre des
Confessions dans la Normandie jusqu la fin du XIIesicle. Cet article propose, pour la
premire fois, une analyse de la faon dont Jean de Fcamp a utilis le travail dAugustin
dans sa Confessio, et une interprtation des indices que constituent les exemplaires
normands des Confessions. Cette tude sattache dmontrer comment en Normandie,
les interprtations intellectuelles des textes par des contemporains peuvent tre jointes
lexamen palographique des manuscrits, pour comprendre la manire dont les livres ont
circul entre les bibliothques monastiques, et les raisons de cette diffusion.
Mots-cls : Jean de Fcamp, Confessiones, saintAugustin dHippone, manuscrits monastiques,
contemplation monastique, XIesicle, XIIesicle, Confessio Theologica, monachisme, Paris,
BnF, mslat.1916
Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

http://www.unicaen.fr/mrsh/craham/revue/tabularia/print.php?dossier=dossier12&file=03mancia.xml
196 Les bibliothques mdivales de Normandie
Introduction 1
Many scholars have observed that, during the 11thand 12thcenturies, there was a
marked increase in the number of copies of Augustines Confessions produced
in western Europe 2. The Norman monastic world was no exception 3. Three
questions then arise: in the case of Normandy, where did this phenomenon
begin, and why? How and to what extent did the text become disseminated
throughout the monastic houses of Normandy? And how did the Normans read
Augustines text?
In the first part of this article, I will show how Augustines Confessions was
of particular interest to one influential Norman monk, John of Fcamp, abbot
of Fcamp from1028-1078. I will demonstrate the ways in which John system-
atically excerpted Augustines text to form the backbone of his own Confessio
Theologica. I will also show that John adopted Augustines characterization of
the relationship between the sinner and God, and in so doing John prescribed
a method of contemplation and prayer. In the second part of this article, I will
summarize what can be known about the presence of Confessions manuscripts
both at Fcamp and elsewhere in Normandy. Building on the work of Genevive
Nortier, I will show which Norman monastic houses acquired copies of Confes-
sions, and that, perhaps as a result of its abbots interest, Fcamp was the first
to possess a copy in the region. I will also examine the two Norman Confessions
manuscripts that survive to establish what might have been a Norman recension
of Confessions deriving from Fcamps exemplar. Finally, I will examine a
12th-century Confessions manuscript of unattributed origin, and will posit its
place in a Norman monastic milieu based on its handwriting, provenance, and
the reflection of Johns particular interpretation of Confessions in its marginal
annotations. This study hopes to demonstrate how an analysis of contemporary
intellectual interpretations of texts such as Confessions can be used alongside
paleographical interpretations to uncover both the ways in which and the reasons
for which books circulated among the Norman monasteries.
1. I would like to thank Monique Peyrafort, J.J.G.Alexander and Paul Freedman. I am also grateful
to Marcus Elder, Stphane Lecouteux, Vronique Gazeau, Cdric Giraud, Franois Dolbeau,
Teresa Webber, Marie-Thrse Gousset, Brandon Woolf, Azlina Jaboulet-Verchere, the
members of the Round Table Working Group at Yale, and the anonymous readers for Tabularia,
for their helpful comments on certain of its parts. I am also indebted to the librarians in the
manuscript reading rooms of the Bibliothque nationale de France, Bibliothque municipale de
Rouen, and the Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, and in the library at the Institut de Recherche
et dHistoire des Textes. Aspects of this study were completed with the help of funding from an
Etienne Gilson Dissertation Grant of the Medieval Academy of America and a Fulbright Grant
to France. This essay represents a part of a larger forthcoming inquiry into the influence of John
of Fcamps Confessio Theologica on the devotional culture of Fcamp and the Norman monastic
world.
2. See Webber, 1996, p.29-45; where she explains, on p.40-43, that this was due in part to an
increased interest in the writings of the Latin fathers in general, which she later corroborates in
Webber, 1997, p.191-205. See also Courcelle, 1963, p.254-256; Dekkers, 1987, p.458.
3. Nortier, 1971, p.201; this will be discussed in more detail later on in the article.
Reading Augustines Confessions in Normandy 197
PartI: John of Fcamps reading and appropriation of Confessions
The first scholar to remark on the resurgence of interest in Augustines Confessions

was Pierre Courcelle 4. Courcelle observed a Europe-wide revival of interest in text
and claimed that, before the 11thcentury, Confessions was one of the least-read
texts in the Augustinian corpus. When it was read, it was merely mined for
doctrinal excerpts, and, apart from a limited number of exceptions, its manuscript
presence was largely confined to florilegia of quotations of Augustines writings 5.
Writers before the 11thcentury, like Isidore of Seville, John Scotus Eriugena, or
Gottschalk of Orbais, tended to use Confessions in this way, excerpting the text
when it provided a doctrinal explanation for a Christian phenomenon 6. This
was all transformed, Courcelle notes, in the 11thcentury. He argues that, starting
with John of Fcamp, there was a change in the way that people read the text of
Confessions: it was no longer simply a resource to buttress orthodoxy, but instead
became of interest for its affect, its tone, and its prayerful nature. Courcelle
observes that John obsessively adopted Augustines manner of addressing God
and his vocabulary of prayer, and that, thereafter, a multiplicity of authors did
the same 7.
Pierre Courcelle here refers specifically to John of Fcamps extensive
quotation of Augustines Confessions in his chief uvre, the Confessio Theologica,
initially composed when he was prior of Fcamp between1016-1028, and revised
several times before his death in1078 8. First composed for his own monks when
4. Courcelle, 1963, p.235-261. Courcelles observation is corroborated by extant manuscript evidence

of Confessions. In a study of extant early manuscripts of Confessions, Gorman demonstrates
the numerical and geographical limits of the circulation of Confessions during the 10thcentury
(Gorman, 1983, p.114-145). Judging from lists compiled by Wilmart, 1932, p.259-268, Skutella,
1939, p.70, Verheijen, 1979, p.87-96, Gorman, 1981, p.238-279, and Gorman, 1983, p.114-145,
there are at least 22 extant manuscripts of Confessions from the 11thcentury, and at least 48 from
the 12th.
5. Courcelle, 1963, p.254.
6. Courcelle, 1963, p.255, 262; Kaczynski, 2006, p.118-119 also notes that Augustine was primarily
read as an exegete in ninth-century St. Gall.
7. Courcelle, 1963, p.263-264. Note that, after John, one of the authors who drew extensively from
Augustines Confessions was himself connected to a Norman abbey: Guibert of Nogent (d.1124),
once a monk at the Norman abbey of Saint-Germer-de-Fly, modeled his autobiography famously
on Confessions (special thanks are due to Stphane Lecouteux for pointing out the connection
between Guibert and Normandy).
8. Wilmart, 1932, p.350 posits the date of Johns Confessio to be between 1016-1028, when John
was still prior at Fcamp, because John refers to his need to be obedient his own abbot in his text
(see edition by Leclercq, 1946, p.134). Wilmart thus reasons that John could not yet have been
abbot when he wrote his text. For more on the three recensions of the Confessio, see Leclercq,
1946, p.37-44. Leclercq here notes that John likely wrote his first edition of the Confessio, called
the Confessio Theologica, between 1016-1028, when prior; then his second, revised edition,
the so-called Libellus de scripturis et verbis patrum collectus ad eorum presertim utilitaem qui
contemplative vite sunt amatores, between 1030-1050, for the purposes of sharing it with monks
and nuns elsewhere; and then his third, final edition, the so-called Confessio Fidei, around 1050,
in response to the Berengar of Tours Eucharistic controversy. For the purposes of this article, I
have only considered Johns use of Confessions in the first recension of the Confessio, edited by
Jean Leclercq (1946). More work needs to be done on these three recensions and the purposes

he was prior, and later sent to outside monasteries, convents, and pious members
of the imperial family when he was abbot 9, Johns text is a prose treatise which
is sprinkled with short prayers to facilitate proper contemplation of God. It is
a text that was not for liturgical reading or scholarly instruction, but instead
seems to have been for personal devotion and edification, usually circulating in
small manuscripts that could easily have been placed in a pocket or carried on
a person 10. Over the course of three unnamed sections (a super-structure with
Trinitarian resonances appropriate for the monastery LaTrinit de Fcamp),
John calls on his audience to soften their hearts and fully experience the suffering
of their earthly condition in order to contemplate God more effectively. The first
part of the work is an invocation of God and a definition and glorification of
each member of the Trinity; the second part is an explanation of the mechanisms
of redemption, and the need for faith, prayer, and a neglect of earthly things in
order to achieve redemption; and the third part is a characterization of the ideal
state of the contemplator, namely, crying, pleading, and praying for divine mercy
and a vision of God that he will only achieve at the hour of his death.
Throughout his Confessio, John quotes both long and short passages from
Augustines Confessions, interweaving pieces of this text with his own. In
manuscript copies of the Confessio, quotations from Augustines text are not
of each of Johns revisions; some of this will be considered in my forthcoming study. Note that
John did not title his own work Confessio . The title, Confessio Theologica comes from the
rubric in a 12th-century manuscript of Johns Confessio (Paris, BnF, mslat.1919), where the
book is called liber confessionum (see fol.1); this title was appropriated by Jean Leclercq for
his edition. The title of the third recension of the Confessio, Confessio Fidei , listed above, is
also taken from the titular rubric of an 11th-century manuscript of Johns work (Montpellier,
Bibliothque interuniversitaire, section de mdecine, ms H309), added by a later medieval scribe
(see fol.1). There is no indication in the text of the Confessio, nor in the letters that John sent to
the nun or to Empress Agnes along with his manuscript, that John assigned a title to the work;
within his text, he merely refers to it as his libellus , (the title given by Leclercq to the second
recension of Johns work).
9. Sometime between 1030-1050, John sent a copy of his Confessio to an anonymous nun (possibly
from the abbey of Notre-Dame-aux-Nonnains, a Benedictine abbey in Troyes and the only
abbey for female religious with a mention of John of Fcamp in its necrology; see Bulst, 1973,
p.160). Around 1063-1064, he sent a copy to the Holy Roman Empress Agnes. For more on
these actions, including editions of the letters that John sent to these women with his writings,
see Leclercq, 1946, p.205-218; for more on Johns relationship with female religious, see
McNamer, 2009, p.59-77. Johns writings were also present in male monastic houses: there
were, for example, an 11th-century copy of Johns Confessio at the monastery of St. Arnulf in Metz
(currently Metz, Bibl.mun., 245) and an 11th-century copy of extracts of the Confessio at Bec in
Normandy (currently Paris, BnF, mslat.13593; note that, while this text is sometimes called the
Reclinatiorium anime , it corresponds with the first part of John of Fcamps Confessio); both
houses were well-connected to Fcamps monastic network. No copy of Johns writing survives
from Fcamp (nor is an exemplar mentioned in the inventories of the manuscripts of the abbey),
but the influence of his ideas is very present in the liturgical, intellectual, and devotional culture
of that monastery. For more on the dissemination and influence of Johns writings in his own
house of Fcamp, and in the surrounding male monastic houses, see my forthcoming study.
10. Metz, Bibl. mun., 245, for instance, is long and narrow, measuring 17.39 cm x 31.75 cm
(6.85 in x 12.5 in); Paris, BnF, ms lat. 13593, is as small as a book of hours, measuring
15.24cmx20.32cm (6inx8in).
highlighted in any way (as was generally the norm at this date for all but the
lemmata in glosses and commentaries) 11, and run seamlessly into Johns own
words. Thanks to the edition of JeanLeclercq 12 (and later addenda provided
by PierreCourcelle 13) we are aware of these quotations. Until now, however,
scholars have described only in general or partial terms the method employed
and principles underlying Johns use of Confessions. Philip Cary, Peter Brown,
and Pierre Courcelle have briefly elaborated on Johns adoption of Augustines
inner self 14; Hugh Feiss and Grard Mathon have noted the similarities
between Johns description of heaven and Augustines 15; Jean Leclercq observed
that John takes from Augustines example the dsir de la stabilit en Dieu,
[l]amour fervent du Christ, [l]humilit grace laquelle le pcheur prend
conscience de sa misre 16; and Teresa Webber has argued that an interest in
Confessions went hand-in-hand with an interest in patristic texts at monasteries
like Fcamp in the Central Middle Ages 17. But there is much more to Johns
method and reason in employing Confessions. For while John does adopt
Augustines tone, and his vision of heaven, and his notion of inwardness, and
his desire for God, and indeed peppers his text with prayers from Confessions
so that his words are the words of the fathers 18 he is also doing something
more: he is reorganizing and excerpting the text in order to interpret Confessions
as an advice-manual for the proper contemplation of God.
John is interested in how Augustines Confessions defines the sinners
experience of, approach to, and problems accessing God. John focuses on
parts of Confessions that allow him to define a contemplative approach to God,
an approach that takes into account what John sees as the largest obstacle to
contemplation, namely, the weaknesses of the sinner. John quotes extensively
and exclusively from those passages of Confessions that pertain to the prob-
lems encountered during contemplation; so much so that, if one only knew
Augustines text through Johns excerpts, one would neither expect the text to be
a narrative biography, nor would one get a strong sense of Augustines doctrinal
or exegetical expositions. One would instead think that Augustines text was a
manual for contemplation. And, while we cannot ignore the fact that John adopts
11. For a list of manuscripts of Johns work, see Hurlbut, 1943, p.V, 13 and p.V, 17. None of these
manuscripts sets apart quotations from Augustines Confessions from the rest of Johns text.
12. Leclercq, 1946.
13. In Courcelle, 1963, p.262-263, Pierre Courcelle lists several additional citations of Confessions
from Johns Confessio in his footnotes.
14. Cary, 2000; Brown, 1967; Courcelle, 1974-1975.
15. Mathon, 1967; Feiss, 2000.
16. Leclercq, 1946, p.64.
17. Webber, 1996&1997.
18. Dicta mea dicta sunt patrum. Sic ista quae dicimus, lege ut putes te patrum verba relegere, et
toto mentis adnisu quas vales actiones gratiarum tuo redemptori alacriter sinceriterque persolve.
Taken from PartI of Johns Confessio Theologica, Leclercq, 1946, p.121. All Latin quotes from
Confessio Theologica hereafter will be from the Leclercq edition, and will simply be listed as CT,
p.121. All translations are my own unless otherwise noted.

Augustines tone throughout his work 19, he relies on Confessions for so much
more than tone, or prayerfulness, or vocabulary: he reorganizes Augustines ideas
so that they form the backbone for his own method of contemplation.
Before analyzing the structure of the Confessio, it may be helpful to outline
the way that John quotes Augustine. Johns argument has eight sub-sections,
each of which incorporates a group of quotations from Augustine, all on a
certain theme 20. These quotations are then responded to and elaborated upon,
with quotations from the bible, the liturgy or the church fathers, and with Johns
own words and prayers.
The following quotation from page170 of Leclercqs edition of Johns text, for
instance, illustrates how this works. The bold text is a quotation from Augustines
Confessions (Book1.4.4-23); the bold, italicized text is a quotation from the
matins hymn Tedecetlaus 21; the remainder is composed by John:
Most sweet, most benign, most loving, most dear, most sweet, most precious,
most desiring, most lovable, most beautiful, most pleasing, most bright, most
splendid, sweeter than any honey, whiter than any milk or snow, sweeter than any
nectar, more precious than any pearl or gold, dearer to me than all the riches of
the world and all the wealth of the kingdoms: and what do I say? What do I say
when I say such things? I say what I am able, but I do not say what I ought. Would
that I were able to express such things as those hymn-singing choirs of angels!
Ohow freely I would pour out myself wholly in your praises night and day! But
since I am not able to express such things, will I then be silent? Who, OChrist,
is able to praise you worthily? Even the talkative are mute, when they speak your
praises. But what should I do, I, a needy human being, who wants both to praise
you well and to love you exceedingly? I will say in the meantime what I am able,
until you command me to come to you and to dwell in the marvelous house of your
magnificence, where I may be able to say what both befits you and is proper to me.
And therefore I ask, O Holy One, that you regard not so much what I say now, as
19. As Courcelle says, Johns approach to God is certainly obsessive, direct, pleading, panting, pathetic,
repetitive, circular, and desperate in tone and is therefore, in all these ways, Augustinian. Passages
such as this one show just how much John adopts Augustines tone: Oh how immense is your
goodness! O how it is admirable the richness of your charity! Sweet infinity, when will I see you?
When will I appear in front of your face? When will I be satisfied by your beauty? When will you
tear me away from this obscure prison so that I can bless your name, and when, henceforth, will
I not be pierced by pain? When, when will I pass in this admirable house of joy that never ends,
where there are echoes of cries of joy under the tents of the just? [ O quam magna multitudo
dulcedinis tuae. O quam mira beatitudo charitatis tuae. Dulcissime, quando te videbo? Quand
apparebo ante faciem tuam? Quando satiabor de pulchritudine tua? Quando educes me de hoc
carcere tenebroso ut confitear nomini tuo, ita ut deinceps non compungar? Quando, quando
transibo in illam admirabilem sempiterni gaudii domum, ubi personat vox laetitiae in tabernaculis
iustorum? (CT, p.148)].
20. These sub-sections are not noted with chapter divisions or the like in Johns Confessio; rather,
they are sub-sections that I have identified by paying attention to Johns use of Augustines
Confessions.
21. Leclercqs critical apparatus has been invaluable for noting the range of works that John excerpts
and incorporates into his Confessio. This citation is identified in a note on Leclercq, 1946, p.170.
what I want to say. For I want to speak of you as is right, as is fitting, since praise
befits you, song befits you, every honor is owed you 22.
This is a particularly compact example of how each of the sub-sections of

Johns text works: John starts with a passage from Augustines Confessions, and
then builds on it with his own observations and elaborations, as well as with
quotations from elsewhere which are thematically similar. Each quotation (or
series of quotations) from Augustine thus guides the meditations and argument
of each sub-section of Johns work 23.
In quoting Confessions, John frequently manipulates Augustines text, and in
so doing, often changes its emphasis or meaning altogether. Take, for example,
this comparison between the quotation found on pages121-122 of Leclercqs
edition of Johns Confessio, and the same quotation in its original context in
Augustines Confessions (See Table1).
22. Dulcissime, benignissime, amantissime, carissime, suavissime, praeciosissime, desiderantissime,

amabillime, pulcherrime, iucundissime, clarissime, splendissime, omni melle dulcior, omni lacte
et nive candidior, omni nectare suavior, omni margarito et auro preciosior, omnibus mundi
divitiis cunctisque regnorum opibus mihi carior: et quid dico? Quid dico cum talia dico? Dico
quod valeo, sed non dico quod debeo. Utinam possem talia, qualia illi hymnidici angelorum
chori. O quam libentissime me in tuis laudibus nocte et die totum effunderem Sed quia talia
non possum, nunquid tacebo? Quis digne te, Christe, laudare potest? Loquaces etiam muti sunt,
cum tuas laudes dicunt. Sed quid faciam ego exiguus homo, qui te et valde laudare, et nimium
diligere volo? Dicam interim quod valeo, donec iubeas me venire ad te, et mirabilem domum
magnificentiae tuae inhabitare, ubi possim dicere quod et te decet et me oportet. Et ideo rogo pie,
ne respicias tantum ad id quod modo dico, quantum ad id quod dicere volo. Volo enim de te dicere
sicut oportet, sicut decet, quia te decet laus, te decet hymnus, tibi debetur omnis honor (CT,
p.170).
23. One might even say that these sections appear to indicate that John read Confessions and then
recorded his thoughts stemming from his contemplation of Augustines text, as in the style of
lectio divina. For more on how Johns Confessio reflects a style of reading, see my forthcoming
study.

Table1
Quotation from Same quotation

Augustines Confessions (10.43.69) from Confessions as presented
in Johns Confessio (CT, p.121-122)
For you will cure all of my diseases Certainly my infirmities, O Lord, are
through him who sits at your right many and great; great they are, and
hand and intercedes with you for us. many. I know and I confess that the
Otherwise I would be in despair. Many prince of this world [Satan] holds many
and great are those diseases, many and things in me. But I ask you, most holy
great indeed. But your medicine is still Lord, free me through our Redeemer
more potent. We might have thought sitting at your right hand, in whom
your word was far removed from being he was able to find nothing [belonging
united to mankind and have despaired to Satan] Free me, I beg, from my
of our lot unless he had become flesh sins and my vices, my faults and my
and dwelt among us. 24 negligence, and fill me with your holy
virtues, and cause me to be strong in
good morals, and cause me to persevere
in holy works until the end according to
your will. 25
24. All quotations in English from the standard edition of Augustines Confessions (i.e. not Johns
quotations of Confessions in his Confessio) are taken from the Chadwick translation listed in the
bibliography. The Latin of this passage from Augustine is: quod sanabis omnes languores
meos per eum qui sedet ad dexteram tuam et te interpellat pro nobis; alioquin desperarem. Multi
enim et magni sunt idem languores, multi sunt et magni, sed amplior est medicina tua. Potuimus
putare verbum tuum remotum esse a coniunctione hominis et desperare de nobis, nisi caro fieret
et habitaret in nobis. All Latin quotes from the standard edition of Augustines Confessions are
taken from the ODonnell edition listed in the bibliography.
25. Languores quippe mei, Domine, multi sunt et magni, magni sunt et multi. Scio et fateor quia
multa in me habet princeps huius mundi. Sed rogo te, piissime Domine, libera me per sedentem
ad dexteram tuam Redemptorem nostrum, in quo nihil suum potuit invenire Libera quaeso, a
peccatis et vitiis, culpis et negligentiis meis, et reple me tuis sanctis virtutibus, et fac me bonis pollere
moribus, et fac me in sanctis perseverare operibus usque in finem secundum tuam voluntatem (CT,
p.121-122).
In looking at these two quotations, we see that John changed the language
somewhat, and, significantly, has put all talk of Christ as redeemer at the end,
whereas in Augustines text the promise of redemption opens the passage. This,
of course, could be due to John having misremembered the order of the text.
But Johns additions to the quote indicate that the changes are intentional. The
Augustinian text assures the sinners redemption from its very beginning, never
entering into despair. Johns text, however, does not see this as a guarantee; it
instead emphasizes from the start the enormity of his sins. And then, instead of
being assured of salvation, as Augustine is in his version of the text (in the left
column, above), John begs for salvation from Christ, asking for liberation from
his sins, begging for the medicine that is presented as certain by Augustine.
Thus, through this example, we can see that the quotations from Augustine
in the Confessio Theologica are not only excerpted by John in blocks, but are
sometimes twisted and truncated in order to effect a specific meaning Johns
specific meaning.
Understanding the liberties John could take when quoting Augustine, we may
now return to his use of Augustine as the organizing framework in structuring
his own work. John divides his work into three separate parts, within which
is argument is presented in eight sub-sections. These are not delineated in the
manuscript, but are evident from Johns deployment of Augustines Confessions,
and the structure of the argument.
John orders the quotes from Confessions to form an argument about the
process of the proper contemplation of God. Sections one through four read
as a manual for contemplation. The first section prescribes the first stage of
contemplation of God: the invocation of the divine, the call to prayer. The
second acknowledges the difficulty of the rigors of contemplation. The third
provides a solution to the difficulties of contemplation by advising a method,
in two parts: the sinner must force himself inside himself, inside his own heart,
where a sinner can confront and acknowledge his sinfulness in order to better
repent and prepare himself to see God (section3A). Once inside the heart, and
in touch with God, the sinner then hopes to be so inebriated with love for God
that he abandons all of his worldly cares and focuses on prayer to God without
cease (section3B). The fourth section defines the stability of the heavenly reward
that the sinner is striving towards through contemplation, and seems to promise
that, in these four steps, one can achieve the goals of contemplation.
With the help of the charts below, I will outline and further explain these
sections and their themes. The charts provide a description of each sections
theme, an Augustinian quotation from the section that defines the theme, and
a quotation from Johns original writing that elaborates upon the theme. As
noted above, the Augustinian quotation is not always presented word-for-word
as found in the Confessions, but rather Johns version of Augustine, perhaps
manipulated intentionally (See Tables 2, 3, 4a&b, 5).

Table2
Section Description Confessions Sample of

Number of sections quotation(s) as it John elaborating
theme appears in this section on theme of the section
One Call to But how shall I call You I invoke into my soul.
prayer and upon my God, my God Enter, I ask, into it and join
invocation and my Lord? Surely it to yourself, that you may
Leclercq of God. when I call on him, possess it without stain or
edition I am calling on him wrinkle. You are my living
ca. p.110- to come into me. But and true God, my holy Lord,
121 26 what place is there in my great king. You with my
me where my God can lips and with my heart and
enter into me? 27 (CT, with every strength by which
p. 110-111; Confessions I am strong I praise, I bless,
1.2.2-3) and I adore. You I invoke,
to you I cry with a great cry
in my whole heart. 28 (CT,
p.110)
26. Note that these sections are not rigid schema, but instead represent the general structure and
argument of the work. The page ranges included, therefore, represent the general sections of
Johns Confessio Theologica.
27. The corresponding Latin text reads: Sed quomodo invocabo Deum, et Dominum meum quoniam
utique in me ipsum voco eum, cum invoco eum? Et quis locus in me est, quo veniat in me Deus
meus? (CT, p.110-111). As for all parts of the Confessio quoted in this article, the English
translations here are usually mine, but I have sometimes drawn upon Chadwicks translation of
the standard edition to modify my translation of Johns quotations from Confessions.
28. Te quidem invoco in animam meam. Intra, rogo, in eam et, coapta eam tibi, ut possideas illam
sine macula et sine ruga. Tu es deus meum vivus et verus, Dominus meus pius, rex meus magnus.
Te labiis et corde et omni qua valeo virtute laudo, benedico atque adoro. Te invoco, ad te clamo
clamore magno in tota corde me (CT, p.110).
Table3

Two The difficulty How you have loved [I worship you,] One
of a sinful, us, good shepherd!... God, from whom we are,
imperfect Many and great are through whom we are,
Leclercq person calling my diseases, great they in whom we are. From
edition ca. upon a perfect are, and many. I know whom we have departed,
p.121-135 God. and I recognize that to whom we have become
the prince of this world dissimilar. 30 (CT, p.117)
[Satan] holds many
things in me. 29 (CT, But I ask you, most holy
p. 121-122; Confessions Lord, free me through
10.43.69) our Redeemer sitting
at your right hand, in
whom he was able to
find nothing of his own
[belonging to the prince
of this world]. . . . Free
me, I beg, from my sins
and my vices, my faults
and my negligences,
and fill me with your
holy virtues, and cause
me to be strong in good
morals, and cause me to
persevere in holy works
until the end according
to your will. 31 (CT,
p.122)
29. Quomodo nos amasti, pastor bone!...Languores quippe mei, Domine, multi sunt et magni,
magni sunt et multi. Scio et fateor quia multa in me habet princeps huius mundi (CT,
p.121-122). The words in bold here are from Augustines Confessions, to which John has added
a further sentence.
30. Unum deum a quo sumus, per quem sumus, in quo sumus. A quo discessimus, cui dissimiles facti
sumus. (CT, p.117). This is very reminiscent of the famous quotation of Augustines Confessions
in10.27.38 (not quoted by John, but perhaps paraphrased here): You were within me, and I was
not with you. These lovely things kept me far from you. ( Mecum eras, et tecum non eram. Ea
me tenebant longe a te ).
31. Sed rogo te, piissime Domine, libera me per sedentem ad dexteram tuam Redemptorem nostrum,
in quo nihil suum potuit invenire Libera quaeso, a peccatis et vitiis, culpis et negligentiis meis,
et reple me tuis sanctis virtutibus, et fac me bonis pollere moribus, et fac me in sanctis perseverare
operibus usque in finem secundum tuam voluntatem (CT, p.122).

Table4a
Section Description of Confessions Sample of

Number sections theme quotation(s) John elaborating
as it appears on theme
in this section of the section
Three 3A 32: A sinner 3A: I ask that you 3A: May the Spirit of
must allow God come into my heart God, the good teacher
to enter into his and intoxicate it, and illuminator of
Leclercq heart, and keep his inebriate it with your mother church, who
edition ca. heart focused on goodness, so that I produces tears from
p.135-157 God and not on forget the evils I have a hard heart and gives
earthly possessions. done and embraced to the penitent fruits
This focus on God my one and only worthy of repentance,
will un-harden good, yourself. 33 descend into my
the heart, allow (CT, p. 144; Confes- heart, in order that
the sinner to feel sions 1.5.5) he may strike from
repentant for his this heart of stone
previous obsession and iron wateredness
with earthly goods, above and watered-
and will cause tears ness below . . . Or if
to flow. you lack the grace of
tears, at least groan
without ceasing. 34
(CT, p.152)
32. 3A & 3B (see Table 4b) are not two separate sections because they do not succeed each other (in
the way that one, two, and three do), but rather co-exist within the same section of Johns text
(section three) before being followed by section four. This is also the case with section six (see
below). I have here split them into3A and3B because their emphases are different, albeit related
and intertwined.
33. Rogo, in cor meum et sobria ebrietate, voluptatis tuae inebria illud, ut obliviscar ea quae facta
sunt quae enim videntur temporalia sunt et unum bonum meum amplectar te (CT, p.144).
34. Spiritus Dei, bonus doctor et illuminator matris ecclesiae, qui ex duro corde producit lacrimas,
et date paenitentibus dignos paenitentiae fructus, descendat in cor meum, ut cudat ex eo saxeo et
ferreo irriguum superius, et irriguum inferius Aut si deest tibi gratia lacrimarum, saltem geme
sine cessatione (CT, p.152).
Table4b

as it appears on theme
in this section of the section
Three 3B: Upon opening 3B: Finding himself 3B: Awake, O Lord,
his heart to God, at the port of security rouse, I ask, rouse
the sinner will be and cheerfulness, always and every-
Leclercq granted access he rejoices to escape where my torpor
edition ca. to an unceasing the agitated sea of with your prods and
p.135-157 desire for God, this life, to escape cause me to seek your
and that unceasing from the troubles face with my whole
desire will provide and dangers that heart, with my whole
a constancy and one might attribute soul, with my whole
a restfulness not to death rather than strength all the days
otherwise accessi- life: for man is born of my life. 36 (CT,
ble to changeable miserable, lives in p.132)
sinners. pain and sin, and dies
in suffering. 35 (CT,
p. 149; paraphrase of
Confessions 1.6.7)
35. Vidensque se in portu securitatis et laetitiae, gaudet evasisse iam turbulentum pelagus huius vitae
miserae et periculosae, quae potius mors dicenda est, quam vita (CT, p.149).
36. Excita, domine, excita, quaeso, excita semper et ubique torporem meum tuis stimulis et fac me
toto corde, tota anima, totis viribus exquirere faciem tuam cunctis diebus vitae meae (CT, p.132).

Table5

Four Having com- With these comforting The king of kings
pleted steps details causing me to himself is in the midst
one through forget my many miseries of you, and his chil-
Leclercq three, a sinner here on earth, finally in dren surround him.
edition ca. can finally you I see my true peace For in that place the
p.157-161 achieve a and I rest in it. Oh eter- choirs of holy spirits
vision of God nal truth, true charity, are hymn-singing, the
and the heav- and dear eternity! You phalanx of prophets is
enly Jerusa- are my God: after you foreseeing, the num-
lem. I sigh day and night. ber of the apostles is
He who knows you judging, the army of
(Ultimately knows the truth, knows innumerable martyrs
this section eternity. 37 (CT, p. 161; is triumphing, the con-
serves as a false amalgam of Confessions vent of holy confessors
climax.) 1.13.21, 7.10.16, and is sacred, the crowd of
13.14.15) blessed monks is most
strong 38 (CT,
p.157)
37. Quibus tandem refocillatus deliciis, multarum miseriarum oblitus mearum, super altitudinem
terrae in te vera pace quiesco. O aeterna veritas, et vera caritas, et cara aeternitas! Tu es deus meus:
tibi suspiro die ac nocte. Qui novit te, novit veritatem, novit aeternitatem (CT, p.161).
38. Ipse rex regum in medio tui, et pueri eius in circuitu eius. Sunt etenim ibi hymnidici sanctorum
spirituum chori, providus prophetarum cuneus, iudex apostolorum numerus, innumerabilium
martyrum victor exercitus, sanctorum confessorum sacer conventus, beatorum monachorum
fortissima turba (CT, p.157). Please note that the passage not in italics is a citation of Gregory
the Great, Hom. Evang. I.14.5.
John thus builds a program of contemplation in sections one through

four, allowing the sinner gradually to climb the ladder to God. Yet, the genius
of John, and his most skillful deployment and manipulation of Augustines
text, is seen in sections five through eight. While sections one through four of
Johns work provide a linear ascent to the vision of God, stage five represents
an about-face, a regression to stage two, a break-down of confidence 39. The
fears voiced in section two of the text have been brought to bear, and have
interrupted the vision of God. Therefore, throughout section five, the sinner
wallows in self-pity, falling farther and farther from section fours vision of
God and unable to lift himself up (See Table6).
39. This about-face actually imitates the structure of Augustines own Confessions text. BooksI-IX
of Confessions detail Augustines path to conversion, which models a progressive ascent to
confessing to the Christian God. BookX, however, begins with an about-face, reversing this
progression: And sometimes you cause me to enter into an extraordinary depth of feeling
marked by a strange sweetness. If it were brought to perfection in me, it would be an experience
quite beyond anything in this life. But I fall back into my usual ways under my miserable burdens.
I am reabsorbed by my habitual practices. I am held in their grip. I weep profusely, but still I am
held. Such is the strength of the burden of habit. Here I have the power to be, but do not wish
to be. There I wish to be, but do not have the power (10.40.65). [ Et aliquando intromittis me
in affectum multum inusitatum introrsus, ad nescio quam dulcedinem, quae si perficiatur in me,
nescio quid erit quod vita ista non erit. Sed recido in haec aerumnosis ponderibus et resorbeor solitis
et teneor et multum fleo, sed multum teneor. Tantum consuetudinis sarcina digna est! Hic esse valeo
nec volo, illic volo nec valeo, miser utrubique. ] This quality of BookX is noted by Brown, 1967,
p.150. The fact that John does a similar turn in his own work might indicate that, even though
he quotes only excerpts of Confessions here, he had a deep familiarity with the structure of the
whole text as it proceeds from beginning to end; perhaps this indicates that John had read the
book sequentially at some point.

Table6
Section Description of Confessions quotation(s) Sample of

Number sections theme as it appears in this section John elaborating
on theme
of the section
Five Relapse. Sinner See, I love you, and if it is [My soul] is still
falls from being too little, let me love you sad because it slips
focused on more strongly. I can con- back and becomes a
Leclercq vision of God, ceive no measure by which deep abyss, or rather
edition ca. reminded of his to know how far my love feels itself still to be
p.161-169 insecurities. falls short of that which a deep abyss Why
is enough to make my life are you sad, O my
(This is a run to your embraces, and soul, and why do
regression to not to turn away until it lies you disturb me? 41
Section Two.) hidden in the secret place (CT, p.161)
of your presence. 40 (CT,
p.162; Confessions 13.8.9)
40. En amo: et si parum est, amem validius. Non possum metiri ut sciam quantum desit mihi
amoris ad id quod sat est ut currat vita mea in amplexus tuos, nec avertatur donec abscondatur
in abscondito vultus tui (CT, p.162).
41. Et adhuc tristis est, quia relabitur, et fit abyssus, quin potius sentit adhuc esse se abyssum Quare
tristis es anima mea, et quare conturbas me? (CT, p.161).
Section five, therefore, leaves the sinner in despair. Section six, however,
reminds the sinner of the prescriptions of this contemplative method already
detailed in section three, and therefore reassigns the sinner to get in touch with
his heart (section6A). Section six also elaborates on section3Bs promise of
constancy by providing a further instruction in6B: in order to keep God in ones
heart constantly, a sinner can meditate on the suffering crucified Christ, or he
can partake in the Eucharist. These steps, with the help of tears, will keep the
contemplator focused more effectively on God (See Tables7a&b).

Table7a
212
Section Description of Confessions quotation(s) Sample of John elaborating on theme of the section
Number sections theme as it appears in this section
Six 6A: A reminder 6A: The love of the world is only 6A: I ask you by the mystery of your holy incarnation and nativity, pour a
of the contem- night and obscurity. It is agony and multitude of your sweetness and love into my breast, so that I might neither
plative task at blindness; and God overwhelms the desire nor think anything earthly or fleshly, but may love only you, think only
Leclercq hand, the one evil-doers who take it into their power you, desire only you, hold only you in my heart and in my mouth. May you
e d i t i o n that will reig- with torments and makes them suffer alone be my zeal and my exultation, my delight and my meditation. Let me med-
ca. p.169- nite the cycle of so that they never rest in peace. Your itate on you by day, let me address you through sleep in the night. 43 (CT, p.172)
174 ascent: allowing love is true and holy, and it fills the
God to enter souls that it possesses with sweetness 6A: I, humble, beseech you, write with your finger on my breast the sweet
into the sinnersand peace, and illuminates them with memory of your mellifluous name, so that I never forget it and never can erase
heart. a lively clarity of interior vision. It it. Write on the tablets of my heart your commandments and your will, your
is the most sweet bread, it sates the law and your ordinances: in order that I may have always and everywhere
(This parallels palate of my heart so that [my heart] before my eyes you, the Lord of immeasurable sweetness, and your precepts.
section 3A.) feels the sweetness of your love. 42 How sweet are your words to my mouth. Give me a firm memory, so that I do
(CT, p.172; Confessions 7.16.22) not forget them. 44 (CT, p.172)
42. Amor mundi nox est et caligo. Anxius est, et caecus: et miseros quos possidet, graviter torquet, et non patitur eos quietos esse. Amor tuus verus et sanctus animas quas tenet
Les bibliothques mdivales de Normandie
dulcedine simul et quiete replet, illuminans eas intimae visionis perspicua luce. Panis dulcissime sana palatum cordis mei, ut sentiat suavitatem amoris tui (CT, p.172). The
quotation from Augustines Confessions is given in bold both here and in the chart above; I have excerpted Johns introduction in order to provide his context for this quotation.
43. Rogo te per mysterium sanctae incarnationis et nativitatis tuae, infunde multitudinem dulcedinis et caritatis tuae pectori meo, ut nihil terrenum aut carnale desiderem vel
cogitem, sed te solum amem, te solum cogitem, te solum desiderem, te solum habeam in corde et in ore. Tu solus sis studium et exultatio mea, iucunditas et meditatio mea.
Te mediter per diem, te alloquar per soporem in nocte (CT, p.172).
44. Te supplex deprecor, scribe digito tuo in pectore meo dulcem memoriam tui melliflui nominis nulla unquam oblivione delendam. Scribe in tabulis cordis mei mandata et
voluntatem tuam, legem et iustificationes tuas: ut te immensae dulcedinis dominum, et praecepta tua semper et ubique habeam prae oculis meis. Quam dulcia faucibus meis
eloquia tua. Da mihi tenacem memoriam, ut non obliviscar ea (CT, p.172).
Table7b
Section Description Confessions quotation(s) Sample of John elaborating on theme of the section
Number of sections theme as it appears in this section
Six 6B: One can unceasingly 6B: My god, charity, 6B: Not as yet in the sacrament, by which in this moment your members
maintain God in ones exquisite honey, milk of are united, as long as is drunk what poured from your side so that we have
sights: by crying profusely, children, you are the food of no need of any mysteries in that clear contemplation of your unchangeable
Leclercq by meditating on the suf- the strong; make me grow in truth. 47 (CT, p.174)
edition fering of Christ, and by you so that with a purified
ca. p.169- consuming the Eucharist. palate, 45 I can eat you. 46 6B: By that most holy effusion of your precious blood, by which we are
174 (CT, p. 175; Confessions redeemed, give me contrition of heart and a fountain of tears. 48 (CT, p.173)
(This parallels, but trans- 10.16.7)
forms, section 3B, which 6B: You, sweetness itself, give me the grace of tears, sign of your love,
was just about the need viaticum and consolation of my pilgrimage. Just as the deer longs for
for unceasing worship of springs of water, so my sinful soul longs and thirsts for you, God of living
God.) springs. O Spring of Life, from which drink the angelic spirits and the souls
of the just, give me a delightful drink, and satisfy the thirst of my heart
from you, that from my belly may flow living waters. 49 (CT, p.173)
Reading Augustines Confessions in Normandy
45. Palate here might refer to both the appetite for the Eucharist and the palate of the heart (see above, palatum cordis ).
46. Caritas deus meus, mel dulce, lac niveum, cibus es grandium: fac me crescere in te, ut sano palato possis manducari a me (CT, p.175).
47. Non adhuc in sacramento, quo in hoc tempore consociantur membra tua, quamdiu bibitur quod de latere tuo manavit ut in illa perspicua contemplatione tuae
incommutabilis veritatis nullis mysteriis egeamus. (CT, p.174).
48. Pulcherrime, rogo te per illam sacratissimam effusionem praetiosi sanguinis tui, quo sumus redempti, da mihi cordis contritionem, et lacrimarum fontem (CT, p.173).
49. Suavissime, da mihi gratiam lacrimarum, signum amoris tui, viaticum et solatium peregrinationis meae: ut quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad fontes aquarum, ita desideret et
sitiat ad te deum fontem vivum peccatrix anima mea. Fons vitae, ex quo bibunt angelici spiritus, et iustorum animae, da mihi potum delectabilem, et satia sitim cordis mei ex te,

213
ut de ventre meo fluant aquae vivae (CT, p.173).

With such a spiraling structure (one that promises linear ascent, then
sharply descends, then modifies its instructions in order to ascend again),
Johns contemplative method is not presented as a cold, idealized prescription.
It is instead presented in real-time, as a sinner might actually experience
an attempt to meditate on the divine, complete with insecurities and failed
attempts, occasional descents in the ascent to God. This is part of the ingenuity
of the text: the sinners weakness is exposed (section two), and then, just when
weakness seems to have been defeated and heaven seems to be possible (section
four), weakness unexpectedly rears its ugly head (section five), creating an
honest picture of a sinners tumultuous attempt to enter into contemplation.
This tumult does not just serve to imitate the emotional experience of the
sinner. It also allows John to make an argument for a method of contemplation,
and to teach a concluding lesson in sections seven and eight. Thanks to section
five, setbacks become part of the process of contemplation for John, allowing him
to acknowledge, in section seven, in this present life it is truly impossible
to achieve perfection (see chart section seven for full quote and citation). By
including the setback in section five, John modifies the expectations with which
he began in section one, and shows that, while unceasing praise might not be
possible because of the frail human condition, what God wants is, at least, an
unceasing engagement in this cycle of contemplation, a cycle which includes
relapse and weakness as well as focus and ascent.
Therefore, John concludes, it is truly impossible to achieve perfection ,
and he goes on to suggest that even a vision of God might be too much for the
imperfect sinner to expect. But contemplation is not fruitless: there is a promise
of quiet , calm , and freedom from the weight of our mortal condition.
The contemplative method will liberate the sinner from his mortal chains, and
will get him closer and closer to approaching heaven, though never perfectly
achieving it. Unlike in section four, where the sinner attempts to gain a vision
of God, only to realize that it is too much for his mortal mind, here the sinner
realizes that contemplation is the highest achievement of this life, and that a
vision of God must wait (See Table8).
Table8

Seven The soul Behold, when my soul In this life, at least,
re-ascends, hopes for and applies saturated [as it is] with
and achieves itself to the contempla- miseries and errors, it is
Leclercq the silence tion of God according to impossible to achieve the
edition ca. of liberation its capacity, in order to perfection of the contem-
p.174-182 from human merit and proclaim your plative life. 51 (CT, p.174)
concerns and glory, Lord, the burden
the nearness of the flesh becomes less For since we are placed
of God. overwhelming; the din in the midst of snares,
subsides; the weight of we easily grow cold in
(This paral- our mortal condition our heavenly desire.
lels, but trans- and of our miseries no We require a constant
forms, section longer engulf the spirit shelter, in order that
four.) as they ordinarily do; all we, once we have awak-
is quiet, all is calm. The ened after falling away,
heart burns, the soul is may run back to you.
inundated with joy, the But forgive me, I ask, O
memory is full of vigor, Lord, forgive me, a most
the intellect is clear, unworthy and unhappy
and the spirit, wholly slave, [for] speaking with
embraced with the desire you too long about you.
of contemplating your Forgive me, a wretch,
beauty, feels transported O Holy One. For it was
with love to the invisible from excessive love of
world. 50 (CT, p. 182; your name that I opened
amalgam of Confessions my lips to you 52 (CT,
10.23.26 and 10.25.1) p.182)
50. Ecce dum divinae theoriae mens mea suspirat, et tuam, domine, prone pro captu suo meditatur
et loquitur gloriam, ipsa carnis sarcina minus gravat: cogitationum tumultus cessat: pondus
mortalitatis et miseriarum more solito non hebetat; silent cuncta; tranquilla sunt omnia. Cor ardet;
animus gaudet; memoria viget; intellectus lucet; et totus spiritus ex desiderio visionis pulchritudinis
tuae accensus, in invisibilium amorem rapi se videt (CT, p.182).
51. In hac quidem vita miseriis erroribusque plenissima haberi non potest contemplativae perfectio
vitae (CT, p.174).
52. Quoniam enim in medio laqueorum positi sumus, facile a caelesti desiderio frigescimus. Assiduo
itaque indigemus munimento, ut expergefacti ad te nostrum verum et summum bonum, cum
defluximus, recurramus. Sed ignosce, rogo, Domine, ignosce mihi indignissimo et infelici tecum de
te diutius colloquenti servo. Ignosce, pie, mihi misero. Amore enim tui nominis nimio labia mea
tibi aperui (CT, p.182).

Section seven therefore establishes the sinner as permanently imperfect,

and as never being able to achieve a vision of God because of this imperfection.
Taking this into account in his closing invocation of God in section eight
(which neatly mirrors his opening invocation in section one), John modifies
his praise with a phrase from Augustine, promising God only praise such
that my tongue can offer you. By the end of his Confessio, John has lost the
unrealistic expectation of perfected praise that he had in section one. Instead,
he has paired the overly ambitious expectations of the first half of the text
(sections one through four) with the more modified expectations of the second
half (sections five through eight), and expects only to do the best his limited
self can in praising God (See Table9).
Table9

as it appears on theme of the section
in this section
Eight Closing call I beg you with Look with a bright face
to prayer and this offering of upon this service which I
invocation of praise such that offer you of my scarcity, and
Leclercq God. Admits the my tongue can as a worthy propitiation, O
edition ca. invocation is as offer you, from benign lover of men, accept
p.182-183 imperfect as the the love in my so small a confession of my
sinner, but it is, heart. 53 (CT, faith Unto you I render
after all, only p.183; Confessions what is in me sacrifices of
such that my 5.1.1) praise from the gift of your
tongue can offer mercy. I render, therefore,
you. I render thanks to you the
creator God from your own
(This parallels, gifts, and humbly do I speak
but transforms, with the prophet: you have
section one.) worked all our works in
us. 54 (CT, p.183)
53. Note that here again the quote from Augustine is in bold, to distinguish it from its surrounding
context. Rogo, sacrificium laudis de manu linguae meae, de cordis amore (CT, p.183).
54. Respice sereno vultu ad hoc meae exiguitatis quod tibi offero munus, et dignabili propitiatione
tantillam fidei meae confessionem accipe, benigne amator hominum En tibi reddo ea quae
sunt in me vota laudationis ex misericordiae tuae dono. Reddo itaque, reddo tibi creatori deo
de donis tuis gratias, et suppliciter cum propheta dico: omnia opera nostra operatus es nobis
(CT, p.183).

This is why Augustines Confessions is such an apt guiding text for John: the
exposed frailty of the speaker in Augustines text is what John is interested in,
both intellectually and emotionally. John struggles with the fact that perfection
is impossible in this life, and what patristic work shows that vulnerability better
than Augustines Confessions? The false climax of section four, the deep insecurity
of section five, and the concluding adjustments of expectations in sections
seven and eight all mimic the real experience of a sinner and of Augustine in
Confessions. Johns conclusion, that one needs to be satisfied with the inadequacy
of a sinners praise, and that the sinners inadequacy (sections two, five, seven)
is integral to contemplation, acknowledges an insurmountable imperfection
that the greatest desire for monastic perfection could not cure. With the help
of quotations from Augustines Confessions, John imitates the highs and lows of
confidence and despair, which is, to him, the experience of contemplating God 55.
PartII: The role of Fcamp as a source

for Norman monastic interest in Confessions
Fcamp was one of the more powerful monasteries of the Norman houses in the
mid-11thcentury, situated in the shadow of the Duke of Normandys castle. It was
the first Norman house to reform according to the liturgical standards of William
of Volpiano 56; from the surviving evidence, it seems to have had the largest library
of all the houses, and often appears to have acted as the source for the dissemination
of texts around Normandy 57; and it had extensive land holdings around the region
that further entrenched its power 58. John was the prior of Fcamp from1016
to1028, and then, for fifty years after, until1078, the abbot of this influential
Norman monastery. He sent copies of his Confessio to monks, nuns, and dignitaries
55. Coda: it is interesting to note Johns invention in his Confessio. In section6B, for instance, John
elaborates on the ways one can allow God to enter into ones own heart. One way John prescribes
is by literally ingesting God when receiving the Eucharist: taking the presence of God into ones
body during the sacrament is a powerful ritual that literalizes how John wants the sinner to keep
God metaphorically in his own heart (see the first quote of section6B). Even more memorably,
John suggests that the sinner can keep God in his heart by meditating on the crucified Christ. In a
series of affective passages, John conjures up the image of the crucifixion, and asks this gruesome,
wounded Christ to wound the sinners own heart so that he will cry and repent perpetually (see
the final two quotations in section6B). In his text, John builds a parallel between Christs bleeding
wounds and the sinners crying. John proposes a new way to follow Augustines prescriptions
concerning the heart: to inscribe God on ones heart by wounding ones heart with the image of
God suffering on the cross; to imbibe and ingest God in the sacrament of the Eucharist to literalize
the adoption of God inside ones heart; and to perpetuate tears in order to remain focused on
the depravity of the earthly, sinful self. There is not time to go into the effect and purpose of this
imagery here, but it will be a major focus of my forthcoming study.
56. Bulst, 1984, p.317.
57. Nortier, 1971, p.54, notes that, because of its 11th-century holdings, even by the 12thcentury,
Fcamp likely had more books than any other house in Normandy. According to book lists alone,
Fcamp had 176 volumes by the end of the 12thcentury, while Bec had166, St.vroult153, and
Lyre137.
58. See, among other studies, Potts, 1997b.
around the Norman world and beyond, including the Holy Roman Empress 59. It
is worth asking, then, if his interest in Augustines Confessions as expressed by the
Confessio could have initiated the interest in this text elsewhere. To do this, we
must examine the manuscript evidence. Although there is insufficient evidence to
draw any firm conclusions, what evidence does suggest is that John may indeed
have been the originator of interest in the Confessions in Normandy.
According to the available manuscript and documentary evidence, there
were at least seven copies of Augustines Confessions in Norman monastic
libraries. The work can be confirmed to have been in the holdings of at least four
Norman monastic libraries by the 12th-century 60: Fcamp 61, Jumiges 62, Bec, and
St.vroult. Another Norman copy of Confessions is listed in a catalogue from
around1200, probably from Notre-Dame dEu or Bayeux 63. Even later evidence
demonstrates that it was also present by the later MiddleAges at the monasteries
of St.Ouen 64 and Lyre 65 but at what dates the copies were acquired cannot be
known. Of these seven Confessions manuscripts whose existence within the
59. See discussion of Johns Confessio Theologica in PartI above.

60. This information is taken from the medieval Norman monastic book lists discussed in Nortier,
1971. Fcamps 12th-century book list (contained in Paris, BnF, mslat.1928, fol.180r) lists
Confessions at entry number17. St.vroults 12th-century book list (contained in Paris, BnF,
mslat.10062, fol.80v) lists the work at entry number57. Bec also possessed at least one copy by
the later 12thcentury according to a 12th-century list (of the books given by Philip of Harcourt, the
bishop of Bayeux, in1163, Avranches, Bibl.mun., 159, fol.2v), which lists Confessions at number11
of that record. No medieval book lists survive from Jumiges, but an 11th-century manuscript of
Confessions is extant from Jumiges (see discussion below).
61. Avril, 1964, p.522-25. Avril confirms that the manuscript is from Fcamp (not Blangy) and
from the mid-11thcentury based on script comparisons with several other 11th-century Fcamp
manuscripts. Though the extant Confessions manuscript from Fcamp is from the 11thcentury, it is
not listed in an 11th-century book list from Fcamp (in Rouen, Bibl.mun., 1417[U45], fol.55v), but
only in the 12th-century list mentioned in the footnote above. Its omission from the early Fcamp
book list could indicate that the list itself was made before the acquisition of the manuscript; but
Betty Branch reasons the list was made sometime between1050-1075 (Branch, 1979, p.162), and
it seems likely that the manuscript itself was actually made before1051. Therefore, the exclusion of
this manuscript from the list could indicate that the list is not a full representation of the holdings
of the library, or could indicate that the manuscript was not in the library during the time the
list was made. Perhaps, for instance, it was in the hands of the abbot John, or elsewhere outside
of Fcamp, on loan as an exemplar, perhaps at Jumiges; see further, below.
62. An extant 11th-century manuscript of Confessions from Jumiges contains an ownership note in it
from the 12thcentury on fol.214v, locating that book at Jumiges from at least that date. It is not
listed in the list of books given by abbot Alexander (fl.1198-1213) to Jumiges in1171 (conserved
in Vaticano [Citt del], Reg.lat.553, second part, fol.8; see Nortier, 1971, p.149), and may well
have been in the monastery before the time of the abbots gift.
63. Dolbeau, 2004, p.355-56.
64. It is possible that the manuscript from St.Ouen dated from the 11th- or 12th-century also,
but, its manuscripts no longer being extant, we cannot be sure. All we know is that by the late
14th-century, St.Ouen had a copy of Confessions: our earliest book list from St.Ouen is from
between1372-1378, contained in Rouen, Arch. Dp. Seine-Maritime, 14H17, fol.7v, a register
of loans made between1372-1378 from the library. On that list, Confessions is listed as article
number36 (according to Dubois, 2001, p.12-14).
65. The manuscript was recorded at Lyre in a 17th-century list of manuscripts from that monastery,
in Paris, BnF, Dupuy 651, fol.252r-252v, listed as D.August.Lib.Confess. on fol.252v.

Norman monastic world can be demonstrated, we know of the survival of only

two: the one from Fcamp (Vaticano [Citt del], Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Reg. lat. 755), which is today fragmentary 66 and the one from Jumiges (Rouen,
Bibl.mun., 82[A208]). I have attempted to locate the present whereabouts of the
other five using post-medieval book lists. Unfortunately, by the time the Maurists
got to the libraries of St. vroult, Bec, and St. Ouen in the 17thcentury, there was
no longer record of Confessions manuscripts 67. Only Lyres copy of Confessions
survived at its motherhouse to be viewed by the Maurists and it, now, cannot be
located 68. It is important to note that the Maurists also remained unaware of the
copies of Confessions at Fcamp and Jumiges 69, copies that we know had been at
these two houses in the 11thand 12thcenturies; this shows that we cannot interpret
the absence of Confessions on the Maurists lists to mean anything but that these
manuscripts had perhaps left their monasteries before the Maurists arrived; they
may well still be extant but unidentified. Nevertheless, the two manuscripts alone
may tell us quite a bit about how Confessions was disseminated in Normandy.
First, it is likely that the Fcamp manuscript, Vaticano, Reg.Lat.755, was
in Fcamp due to Johns interest in the text. It is definitely a manuscript from
the 11thcentury, made sometime before1051 70. That it was certainly copied in
this period makes the Fcamp Confessions one of the earliest manuscripts to
be copied in the Fcamp scriptorium during Johns time as prior (fl.1016-1028)
or abbot (fl.1028-1078). While many of the early manuscripts copied in the
Fcamp scriptorium were typical for a monastery forming its library in the early
11thcentury 71, Confessions is a more unusual choice at this early period 72 perhaps
66. The fragment itself forms a separate quire at fol.100-105. It is bound with a collection of
Carolingian fragments and only contains the last few pages of Confessions (from the middle
of13.33.48 to13.35.50).
67. Paris, BnF, mslat.11645 is a 17th-century book list by the Maurists, made while they were compiling
material for their editions of the works of Saint Augustine. Paris, BnF, mslat.11645 contains a library
book list of the Augustinian holdings of St.vroult starting at fol.291, St.Ouen at fol.368, and
Bec at fol.244-248 and fol.373; Confessions is not listed among the 17th-century holdings of any of
those monasteries. Note also that Paris, BnF, mslat.11647, the Maurists tome dedicated to editing
manuscripts of Confessions, does not refer to any Norman manuscripts except for that from Lyre
(see footnote below). Special thanks to Monique Peyrafort for pointing me towards this resource.
68. Lyres manuscript is listed as B.3 on fol.380 of BnF, mslat.11645.
69. Paris, BnF, ms lat. 11645 does not mention a copy of Confessions at Fcamp (whose Augustinian
manuscripts are listed on fol.227-228 and fol.351-352) nor at Jumiges (whose manuscripts are
listed on fol.367).
70. While Avril dates this manuscript to the mid-11thcentury, there is a possibility we may be able
to narrow its date of production even further. At the end of the text of Confessions, in a second
hand, a vita of St.Berthe of Blangy has been added (on fol.101-105). Cassandra Potts observes that
the feast of St.Berthe of Blangy was adopted at Fecamp between 1031-1051 (Potts, 1997a, p.29),
after John received the donation of the estate of Blangy from Roger, count of Pol. Therefore, this
vita may have been added to the Confessions manuscript during the time of Berthes adoption in
the Fcamp liturgy, before1051.
71. Most of the manuscripts contain patristic works; for more on this, see: Webber, 1997, p.197-199;
Webber, 1996, p.41; Branch, 1979, p.166-167. I will, however, reexamine the collection of the
Fcamp scriptorium and discuss whether or not it is really typical in my forthcoming study.
72. Courcelle, 1963, p.235-261. See note4 above.
a special request, rather than a requirement. Just before the production of the
manuscript, John was writing his own Confessio Theologica, relying heavily on
Augustines text as a model (as we have seen above). The fact that Confessions was
an uncommon choice for a monastic library at this time, the fact that John was
in a position of unique power in the monastery, and the fact that his chief work
is based on the Confessions all together lead me to conclude that the presence of
Confessions at Fcamp may have been due to John. He may well have requested
the work; or his writings and general influence may have inspired its selection.
Our second extant manuscript, Jumiges copy of Confessions (Rouen,
Bibl.mun., 82[A208]), indicates that Fcamp may have played a role in the
wider dissemination of Confessions around the Norman world, for the Fcamp
manuscript (or its exemplar) evidently served as the exemplar for the Jumiges
manuscript. The Jumiges codex has been dated to the late 11th-century on
paleographical grounds, making it later than the Fcamp codex 73. In both
copies the text ends incomplete at hoc praeloquatur nobis vox libri tui, quod
et nos post opera nostra ideo bona valde 74, and thereby omit the final lines of
Confessions. In the Fcamp copy, this is not due to loss the text is followed
by an explicit, and there is at least three-quarters of a page remaining, so the
text was not truncated for space (a St.Bertha of Blangy vita was, after all, later
added in that blank space in a second hand). In the Jumiges copy, the text is
likewise, followed immediately with an explicit, with space to spare as well 75.
So, at the very least, the two copies are very closely related. But the possibility
that the Jumiges scribe may have used the Fcamp copy as an exemplar arises
when one collates the two manuscripts. In 13.31.46 of Confessions, Augustine
repeats bonumest in eight different parallel phrases for rhetorical emphasis; in
the Fcamp manuscript, these bonumest phrases exist in their totality; in the
Jumiges manuscript, on the other hand, some are missing. In the Fcamp copy,
certain of these bonumest phrases are vertically aligned. It is very easy to imagine
the scribe of the Jumiges manuscript, in copying that text, accidentally skipping
ahead, from one bonumest phrase to a later one 76. This clue suggests that the
Jumiges scribe could have been copying from (and at times miscopying from)
the Fcamp manuscript.
73. There are two parts to todays Rouen, Bibl.mun., 82: one from the 12thcentury (fol.1-128v), and
one from the 11thcentury (fol.129-216), in which one finds the Jumiges Confessions manuscript
(fol.129-214v).
74. Confessions 13.35.50. Note that chapters13.37.52 and13.38.53 are therefore omitted.
75. Cross-checking this Fcamp-Jumiges recension with those noted by Wilmart, 1932, p. 259-268,
Skutella, 1939, p.70, Verheijen, 1979, p.87-96, Gorman, 1981, p.238-279, and Gorman,
1983, p.114-145, it seems that the fragmentary ending in the Fcamp and Jumiges Confessions
manuscripts does not appear in any other extant Confessions manuscript.
76. The scribe of fol.214 of the Jumiges manuscript omits the lines that are not in italics. Ita
quidquid in spiritu dei vident quia bonum est, non ipsi sed deus videt, quia bonum est. Aliud ergo
est ut putet quisque malum esse quod bonum est, quales supra dicti sunt; aliud ut quod bonum
est videat homo quia bonum est, sicut multis tua creatura placet, quia bonum est, quibus tamen
non tu places in ea, unde frui magis ipsa quam te volunt; aliud autem ut, cum aliquid videt homo
quia bonum est, deus in illo videat quia bonum est, ut scilicet ille ametur in eo quod fecit .

Judging from these two extant manuscripts, and from manuscript book lists
of the other Norman libraries, it would appear that Fcamp may have been the
first community in Normandy to possess a copy of the Confessions. This raises
the question, where did Fcamp get its exemplar from? Did this recension with
the incomplete ending start with a scribal error at Fcamp? Or was it already in
the manuscript that Fcamp used to make its copy? Unfortunately, we can only
hypothesize about the origins of Fcamps exemplar 77. Nevertheless, if Fcamp
was the first community to possess the Confessions in Normandy 78, it may also
have played a role in disseminating the manuscript within the Norman monastic
world. While we cannot confirm whether or not the 12th-century copies from Bec
(where a fragmentary copy of Johns Confessio also existed) 79, St.vroult, Lyre,
and St.Ouen were representative of this Norman recension, it is highly likely
that they derived their exemplars either directly or indirectly from Fcamp or
Jumiges 80.
77. While it is impossible to know for sure, one possibility might have been that Fcamp used an
exemplar from St. Bnigne de Dijon. St.Bnigne was the house from which both John and his
predecessor William of Volpiano came; the ties between these two houses were very strong
(for more on this, see Stphane Lecouteuxs article on the confraternities of Fcamp in this
dossier of Tabularia). Moreover, there is a letter, from ca.1001-1002/1004, between the priors
of Fcamp and St. Bnigne, noting that there were manuscript exemplars from St. Bnigne
at Fcamp (the letter is preserved in a 17th-century edition in Paris, BnF, coll. Bourgogne 11,
fol.745r-745v; many thanks to Stphane Lecouteux for this reference). In addition, there was
indeed an 11th-century manuscript of Confessions from St.Bnigne that the Maurists knew in
the 17thcentury but that has since been lost. This manuscripts existence is noted in Paris, BnF,
mslat.11645 on fol.379 and it is listed in the 1621 book list of St.Bnigne de Dijon compiled
by Johannes Bouhier and found in Paris, BnF, mslat.17917 on fol.162. It should be noted,
however, that, in Paris, BnF, mslat11645, the Maurists record textual variations all the way
through to the last lines of the St.Bnigne Confessions manuscript, and these demonstrate
that the text was complete in this; therefore, if Fcamp did use it as an exemplar, the defective
ending was introduced in the Fcamp copy. For more on this manuscript, see Gorman, 1981,
p.243-244. Unfortunately, no other significant common errors are present between the Fcamp
Confessions and Maurists readings of the St.Bnigne Confessions that could help in connecting
the two manuscripts.
78. The main period for the formation of the libraries of the other four monasteries in question
post-dated that of Fcamp, which further supports this possibility. Nortier, 1971, p.34, 99, 124,
183.
79. Bec is the only Norman house known to have a copy of excerpts of the Confessio Theologica,
(Paris, BnF, mslat.13593), so Augustines Confessions might have had particular resonance there.
80. There has not been a systematic study of the circulation of copies and dissemination of texts
around the Norman monastic world since Genevieve Nortiers, but it is generally understood that
the monasteries borrowed from each others libraries. For example, in the case of Jumiges, I have
already identified four books in addition to Rouen, Bibl.mun., 82 that used Fcamp manuscripts
as exemplars: Rouen, Bibl.mun., 474(A225), 428(A346), 1123(U61), and 488(U103). The abbeys
of Jumiges and St.vroult both adopted the customs of Fcamp, and it likely that exemplars were
borowed from Fcamp (in the case of Jumiges) and from Jumiges (in the case of St.vroult)
(Gazeau, 2007, t.II, p.238). Jumiges manuscripts have been studied as possible exemplars for
the manuscripts of Bec (Grammont, 1954, t. II, p.209-222); Nortier discusses how exemplars
for Lyres manuscripts often came from Bec or St.vroult (Nortier, 1971, p.45, 125-126, 130,
148, 185); and Alexander remarks on how the Norman monks moved between different Norman
monasteries during the courses of their lifetimes, sometimes carrying manuscripts along with
them (Alexander, 1970, p.83-84).
PartIII: Fcamp and the origin of Paris, BnF, mslat.1916
Intrigued as to the whereabouts of the four missing Norman codices, I began

looking at unattributed manuscripts of Confessions from the CentralMiddleAges
to see if I could identify any of the missing Norman copies 81. The investigation
did yield one candidate: a 12th-century manuscript of Confessions (Paris, BnF,
mslat.1916, hereafter called lat.1916) that had been dated based on the basis
of its script 82, and tentatively placed at the Cistercian abbey of Mortemer 83.
My examination of lat.1916 revealed that this manuscripts marginal notations
reflected a knowledge of Johns interpretation of Confessions: nota marks in the
manuscripts margins highlighted some of Johns favorite passages, metaphors, and
themes from Augustines work. By augmenting this with a reexamination of the
evidence from its provenance and from its paleography, we can tentatively place
lat.1916 in Normandy and, perhaps surprisingly, not to Bec, St.vroult, St.Ouen,
or Lyre, but to the monastery of Fcamp. The argument based on this evidence
proceeds only incrementally establishing the place of origin and provenance
of a manuscript is frequently a tentative endeavor, and, even with our additional
knowledge of lat.1916s annotations, our material evidence remains inconclusive.
There are certain indications that lat.1916 once belonged to and was made at
the monastery of Fcamp. In his article on the dispersal of the library of Fcamp,
Stphane Lecouteux lists this copy as a possible manuscript of the monastery
because it was owned by Antoine de Mareste dAlge, who owned many of the
Fcamp manuscripts in the 17thcentury; Marie-Pierre Laffitte, a specialist in the
manuscripts of Mortemer, agrees with Lecouteuxs assessment 84. Aspects of its
decoration and script suggest that lat.1916 could be connected to Fcamp: while
its initials are the kind of unflourished, block-letter initials that were copied
throughout northern France in the 12thcentury 85, similar initials do appear in
several Fcamp manuscripts. More conclusive, the scribal hand found throughout
this manuscript is closely similar to the script found in the first pages 86 of a
confirmed Fcamp manuscript dated to the late 11th/early 12thcentury (Rouen,
81. I compiled a list of unattributed 11th- and 12th-century manuscripts from the lists of medieval
Confessions manuscripts published by Wilmart, 1932, p.259-268, Skutella, 1939, p.70, and
Verheijen, 1979, p.87-96. I then looked at the majority of these manuscripts (in person or in
microfilm) to see if I could find evidence of a Norman manuscript being among them. I also took
note of when and how these manuscripts contained nota marks, in order to provide a comparison
for this study (see more on this below).
82. Catalogue gnral des manuscrits latins de la Bibliothque nationale, t.II, n1916, p.237, notes
that the script of this manuscript is dated to the 12thcentury.
83. Bondelle-Souchier, 1991, p.228.
84. Lecouteux, 2007, p.27-28. Mareste dAlges coat of arms appears rubbed-out on the last folio of
lat. 1916, fol. 109. In note46 of that article, Stphane Lecouteux is joined by Marie-Pierre Laffitte
in saying that lat. 1916 is one of six manuscripts collected by Mareste dAlge between1640-1645
(likely before he acquired the Mortemer manuscripts) that should be considered as having an
origin at Fcamp (Laffitte, 2005, p.199). For more on the Norman manuscripts collected by
Mareste dAlge, see Dolbeau, 1988, p.101-107 and Laffitte, 2014.
85. I would like to thank Marie-Thrse Gousset for this attribution.
86. Namely, fol. 1-10v.

Bibl.mun., 492[A105]) 87. The hand of lat.1916 and that of the first pages of
Rouen, Bibl.mun., 492 share certain similar characteristics: the feet of each of
their letters curl up ever-so-slightly to the right; their ascenders are both often
slightly forked on hs, ls, and bs while more straight-backed on ds; their gs take
the same shape, almost (but not quite) completing a figure-8; and they each use
the same broad-nibbed pen and dark ink, causing a more calligraphic effect than
a spidery or spindly one. The scribe of lat.1916 uses abbreviations much more
frequently (such as the us abbreviation), than the scribe of Rouen, Bibl.mun.,
492. Nonetheless, they might well be the same scribe.
Finally, the marginal annotations that reflect an interpretation of Confessions
akin to Johns contribute to locating lat.1916 more securely within John of
Fcamps sphere of influence. The nota marks do not always highlight passages
in Augustines text that are identical to those excerpted and quoted by John
in his Confessio 88; still, they are only present in the books that John quotes
extensively, namely, BooksI-II, VIII-X, XII-XIII. More importantly, the nota
marks in lat.1916 mark passages of Augustines text that involve to the same
contemplative issues that John emphasized in his Confessio.
To understand the use of nota marks in a medieval manuscript is a tricky
business 89. There are several annotating hands in lat.1916, and none of them
write more than some combination of the letters n, o, t, and a in their
margins. Still, it is possible to discern from among the mix of notating hands a
relatively uniform hand that appears to be the earliest, perhaps contemporary
with our main scribal hand 90. His notation marks seem to have been for personal
reading edification, as opposed to lectio marks indicating the text was read
aloud 91. In addition, our 12th-century annotator displays a particularly John-like
focus 92: he noted Augustines characterization of the tumultuous state of the
sinner and Augustines descriptions of weeping and contemplation of the cross.
87. Branch, 1974, p.159. Rouen, Bibl.mun., 492 is a manuscript of Cassiodorus Expositio in Psalmos.
88. They do quote Johns passages on occasion see note93 below.
89. Michael Gullick has recently called for more attention to be paid to nota marks in manuscripts,
observing that not much attention has been paid to nota marks in Romanesque manuscripts
However, there is a Christ Church [Cambridge] manuscript of the early 12thcentury [that has
many nota marks which the scribe copied from his exemplar along with the main text] [this]
therefore demonstrates that such nota were sometimes (at least) regarded as important. ,
Gullick, 2008, p.83.
90. There at least seven notating hands in this manuscript, ranging in date from the 12ththrough
17thcenturies. Still, our 12th-century notator has marks whose character is easy to discern. They
were all written with a narrow, sharp nib in a very controlled manner. Each forms an N with an
a hanging off of the final, lengthened descender of theN. The a is a slightly peaked, triangular,
two-story miniscule a, one which is comparable with the peaked a found in the main 12th-century
text of the manuscript. This similarity between a distinctive feature in both the main text and the
notating hand allows us to date the notating hand as roughly contemporary with the main text.
91. Readings from Confessions were not prescribed in the Fcamp liturgy or the lectiones ad prandium,
and the number and variety of hands in lat.1916 indicate that the manuscript had many individual
readers over time, who were interested in different aspects of the text.
92. The other annotators in Paris, BnF, mslat.1916 do not appear to have been nearly so consistent
in the topics and themes to which they drew attention, highlighting at times random biographical
Both John of Fcamp and our annotator are interested in passages of

Augustines Confessions that detail the weakness of the sinners will. The idea
that God is inside the sinner while the sinner is outside himself (cf. section
two of Johns argument) is highlighted both in John and by our annotator (as
shown in the examples in the first row of the chart below). The metaphor of
mans sinfulness tossing him about like a ship on rough seas is present both
in the annotations of lat.1916 and in John of Fcamp (cf. section3B of Johns
Confessio, and the second row of the chart below). Finally, the metaphor of God
being the medicine for the disease of the sinner (cf. Confessio section two, and the
final row on the chart below) is of interest both to John and the annotator they
both quote precisely the same passage from Confessions in this particular case.
The chart below juxtaposes the quotations from Confessions highlighted by
the annotator of lat.1916 with quotations from Johns Confessio Theologica, in
order to demonstrate the parallel interests between John and the annotator of
lat.1916 (See Table10).
facts from Augustines life (the names of Augustines friends, the names of works Augustine read,
when Augustine was baptized, etc.) or various doctrinal aspects of Augustines text (Augustine on
memory, Augustine on creation, etc.). Of the sample of the thirty-two French, English, German,
and Italian 11th- and 12th-century manuscripts of Augustines Confessions that I viewed, very few of
them are annotated, and none of them highlighted passages of Confessions with the kind of focus
of our 12th-century annotator, preferring to note only to the kinds of biographical and doctrinal
interests we see elsewhere in lat.1916. A wider study of notations in all Confessions manuscripts
would have to be done, of course, to be sure that the annotator in lat.1916 was so unique in his
choice of passages to annotate.

Table10
Paris, BnF, ms lat. 1916 Confessio Theologica 93

Lustful feelings are therefore dark feel- From you we place ourselves far away,
ings, and place [the sinner] far away from and from you we become dissimilar. 95
your face. 94 (1.18.29) (CT, p.117)
The storm tosses the sailors, threatens Finding himself at the port of security
shipwreck; all grow pale at approaching and cheerfulness, he rejoices to escape
death; sky and sea are calmed, and they the agitated sea of this life, to escape
are exceedingly joyful, having once been from the troubles and dangers that one
exceedingly afraid. 96 (8.3.7) might attribute to death rather than life:
for man is born miserable, lives in pain
and sin, and dies in suffering. 97 (CT,
p.149; also incorporates a paraphrase of
Confessions 1.6.7)
Thanks to your merits and your holy

prayers we can enter happily on an
intact ship and with an intact cargo,
to the assured port of eternal glory. 98
(CT, p.169)
Hear me [God], through [Christ], the I beg [Christ], in his tenderness and
medicine for our wounds, who hung goodness, he who is the medicine for
upon the wood and sits at your right our wounds, he who hung upon the
hand to intercede for us 99 (9.13.35) wood and sits at [Gods] right hand to
intercede for us 100 (CT, p.132)
93. Quotations in bold in this column are direct quotations from Augustines Confessions as excerpted
by John in the Confessio Theologica.
94. In affectu ergo libidinoso, id enim est tenebroso, atque id est longe a vultu tuo (notated on
fol.7v).
95. Unum deum a quo sumus, per quem sumus, in quo sumus. A quo discessimus, cui dissimiles facti
sumus (CT, p.117). Quotations on a similar theme are highlighted in Paris, BnF, mslat.1916 on
fol.5v, 7v, 65v, and76v.
96. Iactat tempestas navigantes minaturque naufragium; omnes futura morte pallescunt: tranquillatur
caelum et mare, et exultant nimis, quoniam timuerunt nimis (notated on fol.49).
97. Vidensque se in portu securitatis et laetitiae, gaudet evasisse iam turbulentum pelagus huius
vitae miserae et periculosae, quae potius mors dicenda est, quam vita (CT, p.149).
98. ut vestris meritis vestrisque sanctis orationibus salva nave et integris mercibus securum
perpetuae gloriae portum valeamus feliciter introire (CT, p.169).
99. Exaudi me per medicinam vulnerum nostrorum, quae pependit in ligno, et sedens ad dexteram
tuam te interpellat pro nobis (fol.64v).
100. Per ipsam medicinam vulnerum nostrorum quae pependit in ligno, et sedet ad dexteram tuam
atque interpellat pro nobis pietati bonitatique tuae supplico (CT, p.132). Quotes on a similar
theme are highlighted in BnF, mslat.1916 on fol.5v.
The above comparison demonstrates that both John and the annotator are
interested in the same metaphors in Augustines text. Such correspondence
could be mere coincidence; after all, some of these metaphors appear in widely
known texts like the psalms, sources other than Augustine that both John and the
notator might recognize. But this coincidence seems less likely when we see that
the annotator of lat.1916, like John, is also interested in highlighting Augustines
contemplative prescriptions for combating the sinfulness of man. Both highlight
Augustines prescriptions for tears in Confessions (cf. sections6A&B of Johns
Confessio); and both note that meditation on the cross and the participation in
the Eucharist (cf. section6B of Johns Confessio) are keys to approaching heaven
despite sinfulness (See Table11).

Table11
Paris, BnF ms lat. 1916 Confessio Theologica 101

I cast myself down, I know not how, Therefore I will be able to offer you
under a certain fig-tree, giving full vent each day, the tears from the eyes, the
to my tears; and the floods of my eyes sacrifice of a broken spirit and a crushed
gushed out an acceptable sacrifice to heart. 103 (CT, p.172-173)
you. 102 (8.12.28)
Hear me [God], through [Christ], the You, beauty itself, I ask you by the holy
medicine for our wounds, who hung effusion of your precious blood by which
upon the wood and sits at your right we are redeemed: give me contrition of
hand to intercede for us 104 (9.13.35) heart and abundant tears. 106 (CT, p.173)
But you strengthened me, saying, this [In the heavenly Jerusalem] it will no
is why Christ died for all, so that those longer be in the sacrament which, in this
who live may now no longer live for life, we members are united each time that
themselves, but for Christ who died for we drink that [blood] which flowed from
them He has redeemed me with His your side then and there, in the clear
blood. Let the proud not speak ill of contemplation of you, the unchangeable
me; because I meditate on my ransom, truth, we will no longer need to have any
and eat and drink, and communicate it; mystery. 107 (CT, p.174)
[I am] poor, desiring to be satisfied by
Christ, along with those who eat and
are satisfied 105 (10.43.70)
101. As above, quotations in bold in this column are direct quotes or paraphrases from Augustines
Confessions as excerpted by John in the Confessio Theologica.
102. Ego sub quadam fici arbore stravi me nescio quo modo et dimisi habenas lacrimis et pruperunt
flumina oculorum meorum acceptabile sacrificium tuum (fol.55).
103. ut sacrificium spiritus contribulati et cordis contriti obortis lacrimis cotidie offeram tibi (CT,
p.172-173).
104. This quotation was used also in the chart above: Exaudi me per medicinam vulnerum nostrorum,
quae pependit in ligno, et sedens ad dexteram tuam te interpellat pro nobis (fol.64v).
105. Confortasti me dicens: ideo Christus pro omnibus mortuus est, ut et qui vivunt iam non sibi
vivant, sed ei qui pro omnibus mortuus est redemit me sanguine suo. Non calumnientur mihi
superbi, quoniam cogito pretium meum, et manduco et bibo, et erogo et pauper cupio saturari ex
eo inter illos, qui edunt et saturantur (fol.80v).
106. Pulcherrime, rogo te per illam sacratissimam effusionem praetiosi sanguinis tui, quo sumus
redempti, da mihi cordis contritionem, et lacrimarum fontem (CT, p.173).
107. Non adhuc in sacramento, quo in hoc tempore consociantur membra tua, quamdiu bibitur quod
de latere tuo manavit ut in illa perspicua contemplatione tuae incommutabilis veritatis nullis
mysteriis egeamus (CT, p.174).
The examples presented in the two charts above demonstrate the similarities
between the way that John quotes Confessions in his Confessio and the way the
12th-century nota marks in lat.1916 highlight Augustines text: both John and
the annotator of lat.1916 are interested in Augustines treatment of the sinful
nature of man, and in Augustines prescriptions for salvation involving med-
itating on God with tears, contemplating the crucifixion, and partaking in the
Eucharist. In contrast with nota marks in the other contemporary manuscripts
of Augustines Confessions that I have examined 108, lat.1916s notations have
a very specific focus that reflect an understanding of John of Fcamps textual
interpretation.
If it is accepted that the notations in lat.1916 were inspired by the writings
of John of Fcamp, then they strengthen the possibility that this manuscript
was itself in Fcamp in the 12thcentury. If this was indeed the case, it would
demonstrate that Johns ideas remained alive within the religious and intellectual
culture of his own monastery (even though no evidence survives of a copy of
Johns Confessio in Fcamps medieval library). It also means that Fcamp
produced a second manuscript of Confessions a century after producing its first
(Vaticano, Reg.Lat.755, discussed above). Why they would do such a thing
remains a question: perhaps because Fcamp had misplaced (or loaned out,
and never received back) its original 11th-century copy; perhaps because lat.1916
was made at Fcamp but intended for another house, perhaps one of the four
Norman houses whose 12th-century Confessions manuscripts are presently
considered lost; or perhaps there was because a demand for a second copy in
Johns monastery 109.
While the arguments above from provenance, paleography, and intellectual
evidence are persuasive, they are still by no means conclusive. Mareste dAlge
owned manuscripts from places other than Fcamp 110; there is no illumination
in lat.1916 that might definitively connect the book to Normandy; and while
the scribes in lat.1916 and Rouen, Bibl.mun., 492 are very similar, they are not
consistent enough in their letterforms to provide evidence for a certain match 111.
108. These only highlighted doctrinal points or random biographical events in Augustines text.
Cf.note92 above.
109. This final idea would make Confessions one of only a handful of duplicate texts at the monastery,
including the Vita of Mary of Egypt, the Sententiae of Isidore, and Augustines Desymbolo
and Deduodecim abusivis saeculi (for more on the meaning of these duplicate texts, see my
forthcoming study). If lat.1916 was a second copy of Confessions, this further emphasizes just
how much influence John might have had in putting together the intellectual and devotional
culture of the monastery.
110. Lecouteux, 2007, p.4. It is possible that the abbey of Mortemer owned lat. 1916, and that a monk
at that abbey familiar with Johns work notated the manuscript.
111. For instance, while the scribe in Rouen, Bibl.mun., 492 creates gs that are nearly-closed figure-8s,
like the scribe of lat.1916, he also writes gs that are open, with no consistent pattern based on
letter-position. (For examples of these inconsistencies within the boundaries of a particular page,
see fol.56v of Paris, BnF, mslat.1916 and fol.1 of Rouen, Bibl.mun., 492.) It is therefore difficult
to characterize a scribal alphabet for each manuscript that would be definitive (and thereby most
useful for comparison).

Moreover, the text of Confessions contained in lat.1916 is not from the Norman
recension, with the truncated ending present in Confessions copies from Fcamp
(Vaticano, Reg.Lat.755) and Jumiges (Rouen, Bibl.mun., 82[A208]). This
could, of course, simply mean that copies of Confessions circulating in Normandy
did not all have this incomplete ending. But without positive evidence of this, the
different ending could also serve as evidence that lat.1916 is not Norman. Lastly,
while my small study of annotation marks in a wide range of European 11th- and
12th-century copies of Augustines Confessions indicates that our annotators
focus is unique save in Johns work, it is possible that our annotator was from
one of the houses influenced by Johns writing outside Normandy 112.
Nevertheless, a clear impression emerges when all of the evidence is
combined: the fact that the earliest Norman copy of Confessions appears to
have been at Fcamp; the fact that John of Fcamp was an early reinterpreter
of Confessions; the fact that Confessions was a rare text to be copying in the
early 11thcentury; the fact that Fcamps special interest in the text might have
caused it to be disseminated around Normandy in the way that the Jumiges
manuscript was copied from a Fcamp exemplar; the fact that lat.1916s prov-
enance and script tentatively link it to the monastery of Fcamp; and, finally,
the fact that lat.1916s earliest notation marks highlight passages of Confessions
which reflect an understanding of Johns interpretation of this text. In the case
of lat.1916, we must not just consider the manuscripts physical properties or
its whereabouts over time, but also the textual interpretation evident in that
manuscripts annotations and how it compares with the interpretation of that
same text in the region of Normandy.
By piecing together more precisely the nature of John of Fcamps interest
in Augustines Confessions, it is possible to shed more light on an 11th-century
mans contemplative philosophy, and that philosophys inspiration, structure,
and ideology. By using paleography, provenance, and medieval book lists
as evidence for Norman manuscripts, we may understand more about the
patterns of circulation of books and the dissemination of texts between Norman
monasteries. But, if we combine our newfound understanding of Johns interest
with manuscript evidence from Normandy, we can expand our criteria for
determining which manuscripts form part of those patterns. More than that, we
can begin to understand why and to what effect certain books circulated among
Norman monastic libraries; and we can use manuscripts to reveal the extent and
influence of Norman intellectual ideas.
112. Copies of Johns writing from the 11thand 12thcenturies survive from monasteries in Ripoll,
St.Bnigne de Dijon, Metz, Troyes, and Zwettl, to name a few (see Hurlbut, 1943, p.V, 13 and
p.V, 17for the complete list). While the paleography of our book seems to indicate northern
France, and not Ripoll or Zwettl, for instance, it is certainly possible the book be from a
monastery in Troyes and not from Normandy, or that it was made in northern France and
notated elsewhere.
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Tabularia

Sources crites des mondes normands mdivaux

Reading Augustines Confessions in Normandy in

CRAHAM - Centre Michel de Board

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

PartI: John of Fcamps reading and appropriation of Confessions

The first scholar to remark on the resurgence of interest in Augustines Confessions

4. Courcelle, 1963, p.235-261. Courcelles observation is corroborated by extant manuscript evidence

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

This is a particularly compact example of how each of the sub-sections of

22. Dulcissime, benignissime, amantissime, carissime, suavissime, praeciosissime, desiderantissime,

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Quotation from Same quotation

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Section Description Confessions Sample of

Section Description Confessions Sample of

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Section Description of Confessions Sample of

Section Description of Confessions Sample of

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Section Description Confessions Sample of

John thus builds a program of contemplation in sections one through

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Section Description of Confessions quotation(s) Sample of

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

ut de ventre meo fluant aquae vivae (CT, p.173).

Section Description Confessions Sample of

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Section seven therefore establishes the sinner as permanently imperfect,

Section Description of Confessions Sample of

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

PartII: The role of Fcamp as a source

59. See discussion of Johns Confessio Theologica in PartI above.

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Norman monastic world can be demonstrated, we know of the survival of only

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

PartIII: Fcamp and the origin of Paris, BnF, mslat.1916

Intrigued as to the whereabouts of the four missing Norman codices, I began

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Both John of Fcamp and our annotator are interested in passages of

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Paris, BnF, ms lat. 1916 Confessio Theologica 93

Thanks to your merits and your holy

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Paris, BnF ms lat. 1916 Confessio Theologica 101

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Alexander, J.J.G., Norman Illumination at Mont St.Michel, Oxford, Clarendon

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

Dolbeau, Franois, Trois catalogues de bibliothques mdivales restitus des

Nortier, Genevive, Les bibliothques mdivales des abbayes bndictines de Normandie,

Tabularia tudes , n 14, 2014, p. 195-233, 18 dcembre 2014

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